Hi, first time poster so I'm not sure how to start this but I have a male bearded dragon that I got from a friend back in November of last year. He just turned a year old and when I had his out the other night I noticed an oddity with a part of his scales on his side/back and I'm worried about the possibility of scale rot. His humidity stays at around 30-40%. So far his appetite is normal and he's not lethargic. I actually took him to the vet and she said that based on her observation he has mites but she didn't actually see any. He has no bites from any and I've never seen any in his enclosure. I gave him a bath tonight and no mites came off of him. So I'm wondering if he truly has mites. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Posting pictures as well.
-
Hello guest! Are you a Bearded Dragon enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Beardie enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your dragons and enclosures and have a great time with other Bearded Dragon enthusiasts. Sign up today!
Strange coloration/ possible scale rot?
- Thread starter Kaden_007
- Start date
-
- Tags
- mites scale rot shedding issue
Emilia Thuet
Bearded Dragon Veteran
- Messages
- 416
Hun I’m pretty sure you got nothing to worry about, beardies skin change colour when they are about to shed and usually turn a bit duller in colour. Give him a good 10-15 soak around 3 times a week and that should come off in no time. He definitely shouldn’t have mites, there would be bite marks not to mention you’d be able to see at least some of them. Honestly give him a bath and if you see any black spots in the water those would be mites.
Thank you! He soaked for about 20 minutes tonight and there were no mites in the water.
- Messages
- 2,283
Welcome to the forum, ill have to say mites are pretty rare especially if you dont let him walk outside, check behind his beard,under his chin folds ,his ears, his joints and his vent aswell, mites and ticks go to these spots, mites are almost impossible to see but they can be seen with the naked eye, I’ll admit the coloring is odd in that one spot but it doesn’t look like scale rot to me (regardless if it is or not order a product called “betadine” its used to treat scale,tail rot, dilute it with a ratio of 1-5) , he does look like he’s starting a back shed though, I’ll however say your beardie looks really dehydrated (the wrinkles in his skin on the outer edges of his body gives it away) , how does he get water? Does his salads get misted?
His salads get misted every time which he gets daily. He has access to a water dish in his enclosure but he doesn't drink from it. We did see the wrinkles and have been giving him some extra water that he'll drink if we drip it on the tip of his nose. We've had a few struggles finding the balance on his hydration. A few times he had too much water and had mostly liquid poop. So we cut back on the water we put on his nose but it's been challenging to find that line. He won't even drink from the water during his baths.
- Messages
- 2,283
How i give my beardie water is from a spray bottle , about every other day i spray the front of her mouth till she licks , my beardie doesn’t drink during bathtime either dont sweat it, if he doesn’t drink from the dish or get in it you could take it out it is just adding unnecessary humidity, it is very hard to find that fine line I’ll admit too , i apologize if i came off as judgy in my original post, he just looked thristy to me, what bugs is he getting if i may ask?
No apologies needed. We appreciate all the help we can get. He usually eats dubia roaches. The place we get them from was out so he had a few weeks of Ivory head roaches. We ordered dubia roaches online that should be here soon. I do have another question he started scratching at his head area during his bath last night. But yet he was swimming around and loves being in water now. We added a mini "pool" to his enclosure today and he climbed in on his own to swim but he also did the scratching part. I tried to post a video but it's an mp4 and not supported.
- Messages
- 2,283
Scratching as in hes useing his hands to scratch his head or he’s rubbing his head? I wouldn’t leave any water in his tank, especially a pool, baths 3 times a week is fine but no more than 3 , if its the first thing i said some water could of gotten in his nose, you dont want him to get a respitory infection, whenever I remove nose sheds from my beardie she rubs her head all over he could be starting a a full body shed and thats why hes rubbing ,..
He's using his back legs to scratch at his head. I'm sorry I wasn't clear about the pool we didn't permanently leave it in there. He was so excited to go swimming, he was actually trying to swim on the tile in his enclosure before he figured out how to get in the pool. He was only in there for about 15 minutes.
- Messages
- 2,283
Thats cool that he likes water, my girl hates bath time, but she does love toothbrush time.